Tourism remained profoundly down in the first quarter of this year

Prague, 10 May 2021 – Prague experienced an almost 94.6% decrease in tourism during the first three months of this year compared to 2019, the year before tourism was impacted by the pandemic. During the current period, the capital has seen the lowest influx of visitors since the beginning of the pandemic. The drop is comparable to the second quarter of 2020, when the first lockdown came into effect in the Czech Republic. At that time, tourism in Prague fell back by more than 93 percent.

The first three months of this year have been a crushing blow for tourism. According to data from the Czech Statistical Office, tourism amounted to a mere 5.4 percent of the same period in 2019. This is of course due to the Czech government having brought in the strictest measures early this year, including a ban on travel, even between districts. Only 82,109 visitors came to the capital during the period, 65.4 percent of them domestic tourists, followed by visitors from Slovakia and Germany. In all, they spent 193,538 nights here. 

“Despite having witnessed a really crushing decline in Prague tourism over the last year, we have our tried-and-tested experience from last year that as long as we get ready for the progressive easing of epidemic restrictions we can still attract relatively high numbers of domestic visitors to Prague. We are getting ready for this season and looking forward to visitors from different parts of the country and abroad,” says Hana Třeštíková, Prague City Councillor for culture and tourism. 

This year, according to Prague City Tourism representatives, the metropolis will be focusing primarily on tourist visitors from within the country. “In the coming months, we expect to seek mainly domestic visitors. Although we believe that the situation will continue to get better, we still lack clear-cut rules for travel with regard to the varying rates of immunization and pandemic developments in different countries,” says František Cipro, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Prague City Tourism. 

He has no doubt that the various European destinations will be fighting over every tourist this year. “We are in close touch with CzechTourism, and have jointly set up effective marketing campaigns abroad to attract tourists to the metropolis. Naturally enough, this year will be about the European market, first and foremost.” Cipro sums up.